I think that reading the right books is the best way to get a great education.

To salvage the failing US education system we should do whatever it takes to get millions of kids reading great books once again.

I think the best way to do that would be for states to purchase Kindles for every student (I’d say 7th-12th grade) in their education system, and to provide great age appropriate books for these students every year

Couldn’t agree more. Paul also points out that the cost of a Kindle and books isn’t huge –

My home state is Utah. I think Utah pays about $65-70,000 for a K-12 education for each student.

The cost of a Kindle with hundreds of the best books ever written in a variety of fields (with a decent percentage of them being in the public domain, and therefore free, or nearly free) would be miniscule compared to this

Finally he talks about the danger of multi-purpose devices –

If the Kindle ever becomes a multi-purpose portable computing device, with downloadable games and other applications, it would in my mind destroy its potential to become the educational device of the future

It’s not just intelligent people – intelligent teachers are getting it too.

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How is using a Kindle a better solution than using a library? School libraries are now tied to the public library system, and you can get any title within 3 days. I have a hard time seeing how electronic version of books is suddenly going to inculcate a desire to read. The ability to educate via good books has been around for ages, and if it isn’t being used now, why would a Kindle change all that? I don’t think I would be more excited to read “The Count of Monte Cristo” just because it was available on my Kindle.

I don’t know what creates the desire to read, but I know what DOESN’T create the desire to read: the medium by which one can read.

Sure, a few more people might enjoy ebooks better, and they may have some advantages, but as long as we admit the fundamental problem being the lack of desire to read, then I fail to see how a Kindle is going to solve this problem.

Kindle is not just a medium/device/way to read something, it’s also a service that delives books in 60 seconds, adds Internet reference and an in-built dictionary, and lots of other features that support reading.

Kindle would be complementary to libraries. I’m sure the first comment about thinking of the Kindle as a (mobile) library doesn’t mean replacing libraries.

[…] for stories about Kindle and compatible e-books. The latest blog post that I have read is “Kindle’s Role in Education.” This post highlights how Kindle is being used in education. It also delineates the […]